The Manitoba government insists it needs to see a business plan before deciding whether to commit money to a proposed cattle slaughter plant at Neepawa, Man.
However, the group proposing the plant is hesitant about sharing its plan until it has a sense that the government is warming to the project.
“We have asked (them) to provide us with a business plan so that we can see exactly what it is that Natural Prairie Beef needs,” Manitoba agriculture minister Rosann Wowchuk said recently while in Brandon to attend Manitoba Ag Days.
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“You can’t make a commitment if you haven’t seen the business plan and know what their real needs are.”
Natural Prairie Beef Inc. wants to build an $11 million slaughter plant at Neepawa, but its organizers have been frustrated by what they consider a lack of interest from the province.
Company president Kelly Penner held a news conference in Brandon in early January to draw attention to the issue. He was accompanied by Progressive Conservative MLA Glen Cummings, whose constituency includes the Neepawa area.
In an interview Jan. 30, Penner said Wowchuk phoned after the news conference and they may arrange a meeting. However, he’s reluctant to share the business plan until he gains a better sense of whether the province will support the venture.
“We really don’t want to give it up if they’re just going to take a look at it and use it for the Rancher’s Choice group or anything else,” said Penner, who farms near Douglas, Man.
“It’s a pretty detailed business plan that we spent a lot of money on.”
Rancher’s Choice is a beef co-operative proposing to build a slaughter plant in Dauphin, Man., mainly for cull cattle. The Manitoba government has pledged an interest-free repayable grant of $4.5 million for Rancher’s Choice and as much as $7 million in loan guarantees.
Natural Prairie Beef hopes the province will share in the costs of building a new waste water treatment plant in Neepawa while also committing grant money for the slaughter plant.
“We want to be treated fairly as a group of producers,” Penner said. “I don’t think they can favour one company at this point because we’re too far into the game. We’re not talking about doing something. We are doing something.”
Natural Prairie Beef is a companion effort to Natural Valley Farms in Saskatchewan, which operates a beef processing plant at Wolseley and is planning to open a slaughter plant in Neudorf, Sask., this spring.
Once built, the Neepawa plant would slaughter 65,000 head of cattle per week on a single shift. The meat would then be shipped to Saskatchewan for further processing by Natural Valley Farms.
